By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.80 per cent gain on Friday, December 27, helped by two price gainers, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc and Geo-Fluids Plc.

FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by N3.84 to trade at N43.84 per unit compared with the preceding trading session’s N40.00 per unit and  Geo-Fluids Plc gained 24 Kobo to close at N4.85 per share, in contrast to Tuesday’s closing price of N4.61 per share.

However, the share price of Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc shrank during the last trading day of the week by 2 Kobo to 15 Kobo per unit from 17 Kobo per unit.

At the close of transactions, the market capitalisation increased by N8.24 billion to wrap the session at N1.040 trillion versus the preceding trading day’s N1.032 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) expanded by 24.02 points to 3,035.61 points from the 3,011.59 points recorded in the previous session.

The volume of securities traded in the first session after the Christmas break surged by 41.8 per cent to 7.5 million units from the 5.3 million units recorded in the preceding session, the value of shares traded yesterday increased by 117.4 per cent to N51.7 million from N23.8 million, and the number of deals went up by 200 per cent to 32 deals from the eight deals carried out on Tuesday.

When the alternative stock market ended for the session, Geo-Fluids Plc maintained its position as the most active equity by volume on a year-to-date basis with 1.7 billion units sold for N4.0 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.4 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.7 million units worth N5.3 million.

Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.4 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.7 million units sold for N5.3 billion.

By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session after the 2024 Christmas break on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note on Friday.

The local stock exchange closed lower by 0.05 per cent during the trading session as the market participants embarked on profit-taking.

The sell-offs were prominent in the banking and energy sectors, crumbling by 1.16 per cent and 0.21 per cent, respectively.

However, the insurance index maintained its upward movement with a 2.31 per cent growth, as the consumer goods and industrial goods counters gained 0.15 per cent and 0.01 per cent apiece.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 52.73 points to 102,133.30 points from 102,186.03 points and the market capitalisation declined by N32 billion to N61.912 trillion from N61.944 trillion.

Despite the loss suffered by the bourse, investor sentiment was bullish after 45 equities ended on the gainers’ chart and 18 equities finished on the losers’ table, indicating a positive market breadth index.

Honeywell Flour shed 9.09 per cent to trade at N6.30, RT Briscoe waned by 5.66 per cent to N2.50, Neimeth slowed by 5.47 per cent to N1.90, Eterna gave up 5.00 per cent to settle at N28.50, and Tantalizers soured by 4.44 per cent to N1.72.

Conversely, University Press expanded by 10.00 per cent to N3.85, Coronation Insurance grew by 10.00 per cent to N1.87, Universal Insurance rose by 10.00 per cent to 55 Kobo, Ikeja Hotel jumped by 9.95 per cent to N12.15, and May and Baker inflated by 9.94 per cent to N9.40.

The busiest stock yesterday was UBA with 41.7 million units valued at N1.5 billion, Access Holdings traded 35.4 million units worth N871.3 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 33.3 million units valued at N1.5 billion, GTCO transacted 22.9 million units worth N1.3 billion and Jaiz Bank sold 19.2 million units for N57.2 million.

When trading activities ended for the session, the value of shares went down by 4.37 per cent to N17.5 billion from N18.3 billion, the volume of transactions increased by 4.61 per cent to 451.7 million shares from 431.8 million shares, and the number of deals surged by 49.97 per cent to 12,551 deals from 8,369 deals.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The crude oil market increased by more than 1 per cent on Friday, buoyed by a large drawdown from US crude inventories last week, with Brent gaining 91 cents or 1.2 per cent to settle at $74.17 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) jumping by 98 cents or 1.4 per cent to $70.60 per barrel.

Crude oil prices ticked slightly higher after the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a large draw in crude oil inventories for the week to December 20 versus a modest inventory dip of 900,000 barrels for the previous week and a draw of 3.2 million barrels as estimated by the American Petroleum Institute (API) for the week to December 20.

Total motor gasoline (petrol) inventories added 1.6 million barrels in the period, with production averaging 9.9 million barrels daily. This compared with a build of 2.3 million barrels for the previous week when gasoline production stood at an average of 9.9 million barrels.

Optimism over Chinese economic growth has also sparked hopes of higher demand next year from the top oil-importing nation.

The Chinese government is attempting to speed up economic growth through a series of stimulus packages, all of which have been seen as bullish for crude oil prices to varying degrees.

This week, the country agreed to issue special treasury bonds worth 3 trillion yuan ($411 billion) next year.

Despite the stimulus, however, China’s two biggest oil companies recently forecast peak demand in the world’s biggest importer.

CNPC earlier this month said demand for oil in China could peak in 2025, and Sinopec said a few days later the peak may take place in 2027.

China’s oil demand growth has been slowing down due to weaker economic performance and a shift to electric vehicles and LNG-fueled trucks.

Also, the World Bank on Thursday raised its forecast for Chinese economic growth in 2024 and 2025.

On the geopolitical front, the war between Russia and Ukraine may be returning to the forefront after numerous events this week that could impact supplies next year.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a political-military alliance to promote stability and security, said on Friday it would boost its presence in the Baltic Sea, a day after Finland seized a ship carrying Russian oil on suspicion of causing internet and power cable outages.

In the Middle East, Israel raided a north Gaza hospital on Friday and struck targets linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen on Thursday.